Television violence and childrenHow much time does your child spend watching television? What are they looking at? These are two very important questions parents need to ask themselves. Why? Studies have shown that children learn more about life from media than from any other way. (Nielson Media Research, 1993) This is a sad truth. You might think that this information alone is enough to make a parent stop, take a step back, and evaluate how their children spend their time. Evidently this is not the case, because the average American child continues to spend approximately twenty-eight hours a week in front of the TV (Nielson Media Research. 1993). As long as the mothers and fathers of America's youth continue to drag their feet in identifying, evaluating, and taking a proactive approach to all but eliminate the bombardment of so much violence in the 99% of American homes where televisions reside (Nielson Media Research, 1995) , our children will continue to become stupider, lazier, fatter and not to mention more violent. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The consumption of violence through television has been on an upward trend since the 1950s. At the time, only 10% of American homes had televisions, and programming consisted of shows like I Love Lucy, Lassie, and Father Knows Best. (tqjunior.thinkquest.org/5676/history.html) By the 1960s the number of people with televisions in their homes had risen to fifty million, and programming now consisted of violent demonstrations, presidential assassinations, and the Vietnam War. (tqjunior.thinkquest.org/5676/history.html) Now here we are, forty-one years later. The number of televisions in the home has risen to 99%, in fact more families own a television than a telephone. (Nielson Media Research, 1995) Over the last thirty years, numerous studies have been conducted to highlight the correlation between television and violence. One of these was led by a man named BrandonCenterwall at the University of Washington who conducted studies in the United States, Canada and South Africa linking exposure to violent television with increased physical aggression and violent criminal behavior among children. (www.benton.org/News/Extra/media061799.html) In fact, another study of the demographics of various countries showed that homicide rates double within 10 to 15 years of the introduction of television, even though television was introduced at different times at each site examined. (Centerwall, BS: Exposure to Television as a Cause of Violence. In Comstock G (ed.): Public Communications Behavior. Orlando, Fla.: Academic Press Inc; 1989, 2: 1-58) If television violence can be linked to increased physical aggression more than poverty, race, or parental behavior (Leonard Eron and Rowell Huesmann, www.abelard.org/tv/tv.html); and the murder rate doubled within 10-15 years of the introduction of television in various countries; and the number of families in America who own a television has increased by more than 80% in the last forty-one years, then maybe, just maybe, parents should at least care about the amount of TV their children watch, let alone the topic matter in which they are exposed. A startling study has revealed that the average American child will witness more than 100,000 acts of violence, including more than 8,000 televised murders by his or her 13th birthday. (Center for Media and Public Affairs, 1992) Parents may wonder what programs my child might watch. Deceptively enough, 46% of all television violence takes place in cartoons. (NationalTelevision Violence Study, published by Mediascope, February 1996.) If cartoons contain nearly half of all violence broadcast on television, and these types of programs are predominantly viewed by children under the age of 13, who is really at risk here ? According to psychologist Rowell Huesmann of the University of Michigan they are our children. He and others say the most sensitive and critical years in a child's development occur between ages six and eight. Right now, he says, young people are learning social behavior that will stay with them throughout their lives. (www.abelgard.org/tv/tv.htm) A study conducted by Leonard Eron, a colleague of Huessmans, in 1960 and lasting twenty-two years validates Huessmans' ideas. Eron conducted a longitudinal study involving over 800 eight-year-old boys. By monitoring their viewing habits and behavior patterns, Eron concluded that young people who watched the most violent programs growing up were the most likely to engage in aggressive and delinquent behavior by age 18 and serious criminal behavior by age 30. . www.abelard.org/tv/tv.htm) One last study deserves to be highlighted to dispel any doubts left in the minds of parents or critics who still believe that television is harmless. The CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey is a school-based survey designed to produce a nationally representative sample of risk behaviors among students in grades 9-12. A survey was conducted between 1 July 1994 and 30 June 1998 to identify youth violence in schools. Their findings yielded 173 separate incidents; most of which were murders and involved the use of firearms. (www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/schoolvi.htm) All of those mentioned are absolutely overwhelming. It's fair to say that not all of the 173 incidents of violence reported by the CDC were directly linked to a particular television program that pressured the perpetrator to commit an act of violence against a classmate. However, if we wish, something must be done to limit the flow of violence into our homes. In 1989, an engineering student at Simon Fraser University spent fourteen days locked in his dorm room watching movies. Subsequently, he massacred fourteen students on campus. Obviously there was more to this than just a guy watching a few movies and then going on a killing spree. However this prompted another engineering student named Tim Collins to invent what is known as the V-chip or violence ship. (tqjunior.thinkquest.org/5676/collings.html) The purpose of the V-chip is to block television programs with inappropriate or violent content. The V-chip reads the rating code, created by a committee composed of parents, broadcasters, television program producers, cable operators and public interest groups, assigned for television shows, except news, sports and premium channels cable, interprets them and compares them with the values ​​preset by the parents. Next, it sends a signal to the TV instructing it to block programs whose ratings exceed the preset values ​​provided by parents. If children try to break or disconnect the device, the television screen will display the word TAMPER. (tqjunior.thinkquest.org/5676/vchip.html) On February 8, 1996, President Clinton and Vice President Gore signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996, also known as the V-chip bill, which among other things mandated entry in force of the law rating system for television programs. (tqjunior.thinkquest.org/5676/markey.html) Additionally, starting last year all new TVs 13 inches or larger were required to have a V-chip installed..